What are META tags and why are they so important?

META tags are found in the code of a website. META tags help search engines index your site and helps decides where your site appears when a search is done.

Several components make up the META tags. The three most important are: title, description and keywords. Each of these components are important because one search engine might use the title while another uses the keywords. Also, the META tags help determine what appears when a search is done.

META tags are found in the head of your website:

TITLE: should be less than 10 words and include your most important search phrases.

DESCRIPTION: should be less than 30 words and read much like a classified ad that is full of your search phrases.

KEYWORDS: should be kept to less than 30 and separated by commas.

If you don’t have META tags on your site the search engines will use the first sentence or two on your home page. Sometimes this works ok, other times it doesn’t.

Take a look at your META tags to be sure they are there and correct. To do this, go to your home page. Then click on "view" in your browser. This will open a drop down menu. Then click on "source" or "page source", this will open another window. The META tags should be at the very top of the page.